Introducing The Path of Motus, A Game Where Words Hurt.... Literally.

Will you let other people stop you from pursuing your dreams? For generations, a village of goblins has been trapped inside a mysterious forest; anyone who attempts to leave returns hopeless and defeated. Determined to break new ground, a young goblin named Motus plans to build a series of bridges through the forest. However, his perseverance will soon be tested, as he meets bullies that use their own words to stop him. Will you find a way through life's forest, or like others be lost in its depths with no will to continue?

Hey everyone! My name is Michael Hicks, and I'm super excited to announce The Path of Motus for PlayStation 4! You know the old saying that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?" If only that were true in this game! In The Path of Motus your words have the power to destroy anyone they come into contact with. While you play as Motus, you can choose how to use your words: will you use them to inspire, or to destroy?

Motus has big dreams of building bridges through the forest; using an art brush passed down to him from his dad, he can connect groups of nodes together to design bridges! He can also use his brush to solve "Thought Door" puzzles. Thought Doors appear throughout the game, and were designed as an emotional language to convey what Motus is thinking or feeling. While they look and behave like normal puzzles, the ideas behind how they're solved is the key to how this works! Imagine trying to figure out what someone is thinking, but using gameplay to express it. Unlike many other story based games, the coolest moments in The Path of Motus come across nonverbally as you play.

It might seem like the topics I'm exploring belong in two separate games - one about bullying, and the other about pursuing your dreams. However, I strongly feel these two things are linked together. In my experience, people who bully others are usually unhappy with themselves. As a kid I never understood why bullies were so mean, but as an adult I discovered bullies I knew often felt like they weren't achieving their full potential; they were envious of others or had been severely bullied themselves earlier in life. Bullying is currently on the rise, so hopefully this game helps us have more empathy for each other. I want players to understand how it feels to be bullied, and explore ways of dealing with it through gameplay. I think most of us struggle to be happy with ourselves, so hopefully you'll find a connection with this game.

Finally, to help lead up to the game's 2018 release, I'd like to help other people pursue their dreams in real life. I'm starting a Youtube channel where I'll be sharing everything I've learned to make this game. I'm a self-taught programmer, designer and musician so many different topics will be covered, but the main goal is to help you make your own game! Never programmed before? No problem - I have an "Intro to Programming" series you can watch before getting into the advanced stuff. It's all free, and you can check it out at pathofmotus.com.

Thanks for reading everyone! Please help spread the word, we're a small team of two so it helps a ton. Feel free to tweet me @MichaelArtsGame if you'd like to chat or have questions.

FREE DOWNLOAD: The Path of Motus Soundtrack

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